Jackalwrath.exe
jackalwrath.exe is an infamous ransomware scheme that struck Ealdremen internet business and home users alike in the year 4299. The severity of the ransomware attack forced the Gerualdi Union to impose strict regulations on cryptocurrencies and anything else existing solely in the digital realm; the Union's laws pertaining to such transactions and establishment of currencies were picked up by most other major governing forces in Ealdremen by the year 4310. In the year 4280, a cryptocurrency known as Jackalgold was created by an anonymous user known simply as Jackal. Notably, the currency's imagery depicted a grinning jackal holding a coin. The intent of the currency was to allow for untrackable transactions, evidently as a response to tighter bank regulations resulting in even legitimate purchases and transactions being heavily scrutinized by governments (especially within Gerualdi Union territories). Banks, seen as arms of the government, were equally mistrusted. Jackalgold was heavily encrypted, and because it had no physical notes or intermediary between users, there was no way to track the origins of a given Jackalgold transaction. Datamining of Jackalgold's open-source code even revealed that there was absolutely nothing within the code to track the currency, further bolstering its reputation. Users could cash out their Jackalgold for money, but this was rare, as the volatility of Jackalgold made it difficult to judge the "best" time to cash it out, and it could be more expensive to buy back in later. Unsurprisingly, the digital currency became extremely popular in illegal activities, but it also grew to enormous use in legal purchases as well; numerous businesses leaped on Jackalgold as an accepted currency in defiance of government regulations. Within ten years, Jackalgold was accepted at numerous levels, and online businesses would even proudly boast that they accepted Jackalgold, though governments were skeptical that anyone who turned to Jackalgold for purchases didn't have anything to hide. They refused to acknowledge Jackalgold as a legitimate currency, which ended up being to Jackalgold users' benefit, as it meant their transactions weren't taxed. At the start of the year 4291, Jackalgold users found themselves unable to access their Jackalgold or create new transactions; this was for maintenance on the infrastructure of the peer-to-peer system used to exchange Jackalgold and to verify and remove hacked-in Jackalgold as opposed to legitimately bought Jackalgold. As maintenance extended for longer time than originally expected, users grew increasingly unsettled and sought for any means possible to access their Jackalgold so they could cash it out. This took the form of a program called jackalwrath.exe, which could apparently bypass the maintenance lock. Jackalwrath.exe became a widespread "workaround" to the current issues with Jackalgold, even after maintenance was completed, as Jackalgold allowed for automating transactions and verification, making it perfect for recurring fees and bills that needed to be anonymous. Maintenance on Jackalgold's infrastructure became more frequent, which further increased the demand for jackalwrath.exe. In 4299, however, jackalwrath.exe locked itself down as well as the computers of anyone who had used it, which included numerous businesses. For the lock to be removed, users had to pay in Jackalgold -- but because Jackalgold wasn't regulated by governments and was regarded as "not real money" in legislature, law enforcement did not get involved until it was revealed that the creator of jackalwrath.exe was none other than the same person who created Jackalgold to begin with. An anonymous source that claimed to be close to the creator of Jackalgold revealed that all Jackal had to do was pay out the "comparatively feeble" amounts of money that people cashed out while maintaining an extensive income of "real money" from an encryption service that more than paid for itself. Most Jackalgold users never withdrew more than incidental sums of money, as they preferred the convenience and anonymity of Jackalgold. Because so many Jackalgold users had voluntarily given up their Jackalgold fortunes to negate the ransomware lock, Jackal was no longer legally obligated even return their initial buy-in amounts, as they had no more Jackalgold to "withdraw" for real money and thus could be considered to have simply paid for the anonymity of their transactions, which Jackal had kept to their word and never released the details of. Not only that, but to preserve their anonymity, the money earned from Jackalgold had long since been laundered, and users had been operating on effectively worthless currency that they would never be able to take out of the internet. Immediately afterwards, Jackalgold's servers were taken offline, and the already-anonymous creator disappeared entirely. It is estimated that Jackal made off with over ten million gold that was never recovered. Law enforcement from various governments searched for Jackal and the Jackalgold servers in hopes of tracing illegal activity made through Jackalgold or to take back the stolen millions, but investigations were by and large closed by the start of the year 4339. Wherever the grinning jackal disappeared to, not even forty years of seeking could reveal. Category:Ealdremen Crime Category:No Spoilers